Differentiated
by Skye
Summary: Will's been so busy trying to make sure she's seen as different from her new "sister" that she forgets to see the good things in the situation. Astral!Will/Will


Notes: Astral!Will's nickname credited to lj user, abyssofcolors. "What if?" AU of cartoon universe, as in, "What if Will's astral drop had stuck around?" Slight spoilers for 'H is for Hunted.'

Differentiated

"We need to think of a name for you," Will said, crinkling her brow in thought.

"I have a name already," her double replied.

"Oh? And what's that."

"Will," she replied with a smile.

"No, no, see, you have to understand this right now. I'm Will. And you, you might look a lot like me... Okay, exactly like me, but... You're not me, so you can't be Will."

"But my name _is_ Will! It's the only name I know, and you can't just go around calling me 'Astral Drop' all the time!"

"I know, I know," Will said in a hushed voice, hoping the altermore would catch the hint and be quieter, so her mother wouldn't walk in and catch her having and argument with herself. "That's why I'm saying we need to give you a name. A real name, different from mine, so no one gets confused."

"I wouldn't get confused."

"That's because you're you, and I'm me. If you say, 'Hey, Will!' I'll answer and not be confused. And if I say 'Will, come here!' you'll come over to me and not be confused. But if we're hanging out and one of the others says 'Will, heads up!' and tosses something, neither of us will know who they mean, and maybe one of us'll get hit? See how hazardous it can be?"

"So, you do plan on spending time with me?" The former astral drop smiled.

"Well, yeah, it could happen that we need to be around each other," Will said, looking the other way.

"All right. We'd be sisters. Kind of like twin sisters. So, I'll be Jill."

"Uh-" Will stammered. Jill was the name of her imaginary twin sister from so many years ago. The astral drop... Well, Jill, had her memories, could that be where the idea had come from? This was going to be one strange relationship. "Yeah, that's fine," Will said after her pause. "Now, we're going to have to think of ways to co-exist. My mom's going to remember she only gave birth to one of us, you know. We can't both be in the house at the same time if at all possible."

"Yeah. I know! You could have lots of sleepovers, so Mom'll only ever see one of us," Jill suggested.

"That's an idea. Except, it would be you having the sleepovers. It _is _my life after all."

"I know! It's your life, and they're your friends, that's why I said you should have the sleepovers," Jill said.

Will looked at Jill, seeing her downcast face. It was the first time she'd see the girl look like that. How did she look? Nervous kind of, maybe of being rejected. Of course, Will thought, she remembered how she felt when she first stepped into a school of strangers. From Jill's perspective, maybe that was her whole world now. "Hey," Will said, putting her arm around the other girl. "You aren't me, but, everyone knows who you are, and I'm sure they all like you already."

"Yeah?" Jill said, looking towards Will.

"For sure."

"Cool! Well, I'm going to sleep for tonight. I've never slept before, I'm sure it'll be awesome!" Jill said.

"But, Mom's going to come in the morning, and she can't see-" Will stopped. Seeing Jill enthusiastically curling up in the covers, she couldn't interrupt her. "I'll be in the closet. Be sure to wake me up."

As Will tried to get comfortable in her closet, she remembered how Jill had saved her twice today. First knocking her out of the way from a possibly fatal attack, then taking her mother's rage at finding a refrigerator full of clothing. She didn't really want to know any more about the latter, but her mother had given her a light punishment, simply redoing the laundry. Will wondered how Jill could be so much like her, and yet still so charming.

Maybe a little too charming, Will thought a few days later. Jill seemed to get on everyone's good side. She had laughed at stupid jokes with Hay Lin, studied quietly with Taranee, and complimented the already egotistical Cornelia. She was getting closer to her friends than Will herself was. And that was another thing. She was the only one who called her Jill, everyone else still called her Will, to keep up appearances, they said. But at times, Will thought they really just slipped up. It would be easier to think they were the same person, but they weren't.

Which is why, when Will saw _this_, she might have gotten a little angrier than usual. Getting friendly with her friends was one thing, but getting _friendly_ with them was another thing. When Will saw Jill flirting with Irma, giggling and hugging her, it was the last straw. Irma had laughed nervously, trying to brush it all off, but Will knew what she saw, and dragged Jill away from the scene by the arm. "What? What's wrong?" Jill had asked, annoyed, as Will pulled her away.

Once they were out of earshot, Will turned to her "sister" and glared at her. As if she didn't know. "If you're going to be me, you can at least try to be more like me!"

"What are you talking about?"

"What you were just doing with Irma? I would never do."

"You mean flirting?"

"That's- That's exactly what I mean!" Will exclaimed.

"But, you like Irma," Jill said plainly.

"I-" Will stuttered. She couldn't exactly hide anything from Jill. At least, nothing that happened before Jill came into her life, since Jill had the exact same memories as her before then. And even afterwards was difficult, because they were constantly around each other. So now, there was no point in denying something directly. But still, Jill had no right to spill her secrets everywhere. " _If_ I do, it's _my_ business, anyway. You can't just go around starting relationships for me," Will asserted. "And, that's a big if," she added quickly, in case anyone happened to be listening.

"But you do!" Jill shouted, as obnoxious as a four-year-old with her directness.

"I-"

"And you also think Hay Lin is cute-"

"A lot of people do, and-"

"Aaand you think Taranee's hot in more ways than one."

"Okay, okay, I'll let the stupid pun slide, let's just talk about-"

"You're even into Cornelia!"

"Okay, that's enough!" Will shouted. Jill was silently, cowering backwards. "I was only into her before I got to know her personality," she muttered. "But anyway, you can't go around saying these kind of things. You're not me anymore. OYou're you. If you like Taranee or Cornelia or something... Go for it. Just leave me out of it."

"Okay," Jill agreed calmly.

"Do you really understand?" Will asked, in similar way to how Irma talked to her little brother.

"Of course," Jill said with a smile. "But, you don't have to worry about that. I don't really like Irma, or any of them."

"Oh?" Will asked with disbelief. "Then what was that just now?"

"We were just having fun," Jill said cheerfully.

Will sighed. Jill was kind of spontaneous, and she could see Irma going right along with that. A little awkward, but oh well.

"I do like someone though," Jill began.

"Yeah, well, before you go after her, or uh, him," Will paused, looked at the grinning girl in front of her. Okay, maybe she had a little more in common with her than just appearances. "Okay, her. Well, before then, maybe we should work on changing up your look or something. Maybe there's something we can do to not be exactly doubles of each other, you know-"

"I don't care about that," Jill said.

"But I do. That's what I've been saying," Will said irritably.

"Okay, okay," Jill said, pausing only a second to think. "I can change! If that's what you want. I mean, this girl I like, I really like her. We have a lot in common. And I feel like I know everything about her. But I still can't predict everything about her sometimes, but I really do want to be the best for her. She's beautiful, she's kind, and she's a little more level-headed than me, but like I said, we still have a lot in common, so I think it might be able to work. But if I have to work on some things first, that's fine too." Jill took a deep breath as she finished.

Will looked down, and sighed yet again. Jill looked her way anxiously. "Your subtlety? We definitely, definitely need to work on that too," she said

"Yes!" Jill exclaimed happily, hugging Will. "I will, I'll do it!" she said.

"Um, yeah. None of that in public, to start with," Will said. Jill nodded quickly.

But just the same, Will grabbed onto Jill's hand as they walked home, exchanging warm smiles with the other girl. She shouldn't really, to anyone else they would be the same person, and it would be really weird, Will thought. Actually, it was really weird to her too. But Jill's innocent openness was something that separated them, and would continue to do so in the future. It annoyed Will, but at the same time she was attracted to it, and she was willing to see where this weird relationship with this weird girl would lead.


End file.
